Wilted
by StrictlyMental
Summary: She was supposed to be a flower, light and soft, but it all faded as they left her alone with herself. Soon there was nothing: you couldn't call her a flower anymore." Sakura-centric, rated T for dark themes. WARNING: Spoilers, Character Death.


**Hey. This is my first oneshot, but I plan on writing many more for Naruto. Though just because it's my first doesn't mean that I want you to 'be nice'. I really don't mind flames: I find them funny. Hence why the 'Mental' part of my pseudonym. This story is purely metaphorical.**

**I do not own Naruto, nor any of the the characters mentioned.**

* * *

She was not a flower, as the four could see plainly. Now she was with the roots in the ground. Too much had taken place and it buried her, so here they were, at her grave.

She was a "Sakura", and yet she was not. "Sakura"s were supposed to bright and happy and light and even though they faded and fell to the ground, they just grew back, like a weed, but better.

This "Sakura", as she was called (who would doom someone with such a life to such a sad name) was true to her name…for a while. She was sweet and light and soft, but then the branch (so dark and sad and withered, that branch, but she hadn't minded because it was _her_ branch) she had clung to through it all (she had been so stupid, why did she have to hold on? She could have just let go and saved so much but she never listened to herself) fell from the big strong tree and took her with it.

But she was still a "Sakura", for she got up and bloomed again, bit thicker this time, and got a new branch, bright and yellow and glowing in the sun. (but it still happened again, how could she not see it coming, it was her fate: flowers were meant to die)

Her new branch fell, but she was still a "Sakura", just a little more torn at the edges. (torn torn torn, it had hurt so _bad_)

She got a new branch again, because she had to be a "Sakura" for everyone but herself. This one was nice, but she liked the last one better. This one was bit gnarled and weird gray color (trees aren't gray, this one didn't belong), but it was her branch and she didn't mind. Then that branch didn't fall: she just got pushed off. There were too many other flowers crowding that branch, all of them withered and gray, just like their branch, and the branch forgot all about the color she had been.

The "Sakura" paled a little in color, but you could see it was still a "Sakura". (flowers aren't supposed to be pale, but she couldn't help it how was it her fault if she was colorless?)

This new branch, she knew, wasn't a real branch, just made out of plastic (or glass yes that was it, it fit the branch better, so breakable and cracked) though it was her branch. She clung on for dear life when it tried to shake her off, but then the branch was sliced off in favor of another one, and she went crashing down again.

This time, the "Sakura" did not bloom again.

Withered and pale and torn, missing bits and pieces, she (it) couldn't even be called a flower anymore. She just lay there, waiting to get swept away.

Then came a new _tree_.

It was dark and warm and big and it made her think of her first branch and so she wanted to get on, to find a new branch, but she couldn't move, she found. She was stuck and so she made a decision:

She wouldn't be a flower anymore.

And so the "Sakura" was no more, not even dust, just gone. All that was left was a gray tombstone that said

'Sakura Haruno : Friend, Daughter, and Student.

She was loved.'

But her branches had come back (the black, the yellow, the gray and the glass you couldn't see through) and they all agreed on one thing.

The "Sakura" _was _loved.

Just not enough.

* * *

**I know it's angsty, but it's supposed to be that way. In case the 'flower' and 'branches' weren't clear, then here's a list explaining.**

**"Sakura" is Sakura**

**Dark Branch is Sasuke**

**Yellow Branch is Naruto**

**Gray Branch is Kakashi**

**Glass Branch is Sai**

**Dark Tree is Akatsuki**

**The explanation of the Dark Tree was that Sakura was broken and she wanted someone to pick up the pieces, and the Akatsuki could do that for her, but she was physically weakened from stress (hadn't been eating, sleeping) and it killed her. **

**Please review and feel free to flame.**


End file.
